Elementary Practicum: Day 3 McConnell Elementary

Questions:
1. Which Book Vendors do you use?
2. How do you handle discipline?
3. How do you manage the websites the students use on the computers?

Answers:
1. The vendors I use are Junior Library Guild, Bound to Stay Bound, and Follett. I LOVE Junior Library Guild! Some feel that the Junior Library Guild memberships are expensive, but you only have to subscribe to as little as one book per month in order to have access to the sale catalogs, where you can purchase current library bound titles for as little as $5.00!
2. Well, students who are misbehaving or distracting others during the library lesson are asked to go sit at the "Shush" table. (This is a table in the library with a displayed "Shush" sign.) Students sit there until they feel they are ready to control their behavior, and then they are welcome to come back and join the group. During centers, if a student is misbehaving or not following the center's procedures, they will be asked to reflect on their behavior in the "alone space" (desk that is set apart from the centers).
3. I have a Symbaloo account for the library's computers. The Symbaloo page has all of the library's approved websites displayed so that students can easily access. Some of the websites I like to use in the library include: BrainPop, Newsela, History, Reading Eggs, and of course some of the databases from the Tennessee Electronic Library. I have the Symbaloo page organized into grade levels, so the students know which sites are approved for their use.

Reflection:

Another great observation day! Each new library that I visit I frantically take notes and pictures  all day so that I can remember everything! Today, the librarian had a fabulous interactive lesson about Digital Citizenship (from the website Common Sense Media), and I can't wait to try it out in my library!

This librarian also allows the students to check out their own books, but has parent volunteers who come in everyday to assist with checking out or shelving books. This really gives the librarian the freedom to circulate through the centers and oversee the learning and answer questions the students may have. 

The centers in this library are a little less structured; the students have the freedom to choose which center they go to, under the condition that during the five week rotation they must participate in each of the five centers. The librarian has a centers checklist, and she keeps track each week of which centers the students have already done. Her centers are: Story/reading, research, maker, maps, and computer, and the tasks at each center change every five weeks.

Now that I have visited three different amazing libraries, I am really overwhelmed by all the fabulous programs, centers, and ideas for lessons, discipline, and management that I need to bring back to my own library. I hope to take the best ideas and strategies from each of the libraries I have visited and incorporate them into my own library immediately, but I know that it will take some time. In the meantime, I know that these librarians will be my inspiration, and I am grateful for their willingness to mentor me.